Can you beat X-COM enemy within with 1 assault soldier

So today ladies and gentleman we change up the normal formula to X-COM a game about facing aliens and using their technology against them but we're going to go ahead use 1 guy to try and beat the whole invasion!
The backlogs (Can you beat X-COM with 1 soldier) :
• XCOM : Can You Beat EN...
More challenge videos here:
• Challenges

[@TheBacklogs]

Oh, THAT'S what my run was supposed to look like. Great work, excellent video :)

[@InsaneFrame]

Yeah I saw your video and thought that looks like a really fun challenge lets see if we can do this and got to say thankyou so much for making that video sort of inspired this :D

[@tothemoongaming4758]

Gotta say, love seeing others trying this challenge

[@Lugghandle]

Backlogs started this whirlpool and now xcom videos intrigue me.

[@rebakedbeans8533]

Lemon!

[@jucalebre7540]

Hey, look whos here

[@sergeantamol497]

So basically, you played as the doom guy in xcom.

[@InsaneFrame]

never thought about it like that but yes pretty accurate! :D

[@draughroverlord7064]

Doom slayer

[@da_man2777]

I was thinking Master Chief

[@draughroverlord7064]

@@da_man2777 masterchief is weak compared to doom slayer. He's a literal god

[@da_man2777]

@@draughroverlord7064 Eh, Chief took on the flood even the forerunners couldn't do that disincluding supernatural powers chief could win easy

[@joshuagraham1800]

So basically you just turned the x-com into a first person shooter game

[@InsaneFrame]

pretty much yeah!

[@joshuagraham1800]

@@InsaneFrame I so completely off topic but the only reason I got into XCOM is because snake titties

[@VeryPeeved]

of course not! it's more of a third person shooter.

[@tazamane9705]

Bit o' trivia: The reason the Gollop Chamber is called Gollop Champer is due to Julian and Nick Gollop, who are responsible for creating X-Com: UFO Defense. Without them, XCOM wouldn't exist.

[@Prompeius]

Oh yes. Please do more XCOM and XCOM2 challenges. I love these games. Also, love the shoutout to Backlogs. He's freaking awesome! Hope your solo soldier challenge goes well. Now back to watching.

[@quinnlee-miller9792]

I liked The Backlogs video on this, but I was so disappointed he didn’t try again; can’t wait to see how this one goes!

[@InsaneFrame]

I kind of wanted to show it could be done with the right setup :)

[@Baamthe25th]

Jorgen Hagen probably survived that explosion, the cold vacuum of space and fall from orbit like a champ

[@InsaneFrame]

He had a son called frasse odenson taught him everything he knew....

[@remanoid7174]

Ahahah, I love the fact that on the base defense mission you got "all hands on deck" achievement for scoring several kills with staff of X-COM by blowing them up. No one said that it has to be alien kills

[@purplefreedom1631]

He's landing 41% hits with crits meanwhile I'm missing 90% shots

[@InsaneFrame]

Yeah xcom shooting in a nut shell really....

[@bluephoenixguy1094]

Missed 3 99% shots in a row, once. I immediately renamed my guy to blind bitch and proceeded to never use him again.

[@rickgrimesdirtyondatass5672]

The power of save scum

[@Subject_Keter]

I always think it funny the Two Sectopods at the end are more of a Boss then the Elders. Giant D E A T H Chickens.

[@InsaneFrame]

oh my days... they were so difficult took to mind controlling a muton to flank and repeated uses of psionic storm then shooting them

[@goofygoober779]

NO WAY! I just played that game and thought to myself "Wouldn't it be cool if you could do this with just 1 dude" and bam you upload a video about EXACTLY that. How do you do this? Keep it up man!

[@InsaneFrame]

It was difficult but not impossible :)

[@Wellgee]

The backlogs getting revenge as a MEC was good

[@piotr3580]

This feeling when one human destoys your invasion plans...

[@mat8791]

Nice job here, the strategy here differs a lot from The Backlogs' own run, it's at a higher difficulty, your use of the assault class compared to the Sniper makes a lot of sense. And even with all those caveats you still managed to beat the run whereas he couldn't. It's interesting seeing how the runs differ in style. (Also your link to the video of The Backlogs or his channel is a link to your channel, woops. Might want to fix that.)

[@InsaneFrame]

cheers for that just fixed that link thankyou for saying, and my tactic was all about action economy so as many moves and attacks as we could get in 1 turn :)

[@rafradeki]

I tried to win the game with one assault before but the base defense was impossible with laser shotgun and carapace armor and without mimetic skin

[@KFP_Prophet]

In case anyone is curious, going up to 2 soldiers actually makes the game easy, since you can use a mimetic skin spotter and a squadsight sniper. If you want a nasty challenge run idea, how about having to fire soldiers who are wounded, or worse you can only use each soldier for one mission.

[@InsaneFrame]

We could? thats not a bad idea think xcom 2 needs a 1 soldier run though ;)

[@WhichWazzockWantedEmailHandles]

@@InsaneFrame Turn off tiredness and it might be doable

[@gaminglol5276]

well the xcom 2 strat is to just spam covert actions to buff one guy to an absurd level and then do the story

[@ineedanewname.8169]

I've gotta try a spotter-shooter run now.

[@Tacoaloto]

Xcom: Enemy within (or War of the chosen) but every soldier only has 1 hp. EW would be much harder due to panic waves, while in WOTC you don't have panic unless you have a negative trait or tired soldier.

[@slaterock4612]

Great show here and a beautiful run! The best part about this is that your character has the mohawk, a true force to be reckon with. Perfection.

[@InsaneFrame]

mohawk power is the most broken power :)

[@coletonparks8324]

Did you get the "all hands on deck" achievement for having your soldiers kill each other? Thats a funny oversight by the developer.

[@InsaneFrame]

Yes we did as we can't have more than one soldier damn it!

[@freyathedragon899]

Aliens: “I fear no man” Jorgen: “I am no mere man”

[@InsaneFrame]

Love this!

[@CORROOFFICIAL]

HOLY HELL this was AMAZING!! I have no idea how you are able to do such amazing work with all these impossible runs. So freaking proud of you bud! Great freaking video once again!!❤️

[@InsaneFrame]

hello you legend glad you liked it pleasure doing them, its hella fun especially listening to your streams :D

[@hotshowerh2o356]

Can't believe you did this on normal and not on easy. I agree that the assault class is absolutely the best choice since the assault can increase their defense through tactical sense and the amount of extra shots from abilities is ridiculous.

[@InsaneFrame]

yeah it was the natural choice as the extra attacks really bump up that damage :)

[@romanw6636]

Can you imagine having to restart the run because your soldier turned out to not be psionically gifted?

[@SMthegamer1]

I've completed Enemy Unknown so many times, and this video is when I found out you can get bonuses from medals. Damn

[@viscountrainbows2857]

As someone who as a kid didn't know how to dodge or shield when I first got my Gamecube amd Melee for the first few months, I ironically got really good at the game because I was accidentally handicapping myself 😹 Hell the score system even gives you a small bonus for doing it on purpose, much less just being naturally dumb.

[@akoskovacs6830]

Okay, this soldier is the real commander.

[@InsaneFrame]

Hes a flipping power house by the late game wouldn't surprise me if he was secretly xcom's founder

[@viscountrainbows2857]

Man, Mexico and Canada must be feeling reeeeal goofy after withdrawing and Spitfire actually ends up solo-ing the entire Ayy Lmao invasion like"See, yall just gotta have faith, smh."

[@InsaneFrame]

I know I bet they thought "wait its a single unit this is preposterous" next thing they are invaded

[@massgunner4152]

I mean with amount of times gets screwed over by these challenges can't really blame them for having no faith on classroom chef.

[@probablynotdanny4384]

Criminally underrated channel

[@InsaneFrame]

thankyou thats super amazing of you to say :D !

[@probablynotdanny4384]

@@InsaneFrame dawg super amazing of you to keep making videos! Remember us when you surpass PewDiePie, huh? :)

[@markgallagher1790]

When I seen this I was deadass watching the video that the Backlogs made

[@chienduongquang8087]

This is great. Somehow everytime you said: "Shotgun in the face." I just knock my head like Yes! murder.

[@InsaneFrame]

I did say quite alot actually as there was alot of murder :)

[@brodyatkin3681]

So good!! You should consider adding to the title of this playlist something like “One Man Army” or another of the like, loving these❤❤

[@InsaneFrame]

Got another being released soon the mecca doofenshmirtz

[@brodyatkin3681]

@@InsaneFrame It sounds...perfect

[@DarkCT]

WELL DONE! I had a feeling this would work, but jeeze, Assault and the stealth skin was brutal!

[@InsaneFrame]

got to admit it was also alot of fun :)

[@DarkCT]

@@InsaneFrame Im a giant fan of the shivs in this game, also because of Backlogs run of it, currently doing a combined arms classic playthrough in fact. but I never thought about how good playing sneaky peaky with a Shotgun in this game could be on an assault. totally blew my expectations away.

[@PanduPoluan]

The key to winning the base defense mission is to delay attacking the alien base as late as possible, because base defense is a retaliatory attack. By delaying, this gives enough time for you to gain the highest tier of weapons and armour.

[@InsaneFrame]

Thankyou i didn't know that :)

[@PanduPoluan]

@@InsaneFrame Well, the reverse is that as you delay the mission, the enemy mix will be harder. But with your Assault specced like that, still won't be hard.

[@holybread7975]

I like how the flying Frisbee flew into the active void to try and get you

[@BrenTenkage]

good work, respect for proving it is possible, I thought it wouldn't be possible due to the sectipods

[@InsaneFrame]

Sector pods are a headache I will admit but it's still possible if you play carefully :)

[@boosomentity]

considering the amount of times I missed 99% shots I can't believe you managed to succeed in hitting every shot

[@General12th]

What makes you think he hit every shot?

[@andremagalhaes352]

What a Legend! X-COM meets alternative universe Doom guy, that fights aliens instead of demons

[@commandermicrowave4905]

just a tip, you don't actually have to kill all 3 ethereals you just need to kill the main one in the middle and thats it

[@InsaneFrame]

aw hell yeah thankyou for the awsome tip!

[@commandermicrowave4905]

@@InsaneFrame No problem just so for future runs you can use this tactic

[@johngonon1507]

Hi, Julian Gollop is the creator of the original XCOM (1994). The name of the chamber is some kind of homage.

[@InsaneFrame]

That is seriously cool! thankyou for saying makes so much more sense :D

[@jyaternick]

I like your video. It was very descriptive. I think you might have glossed over some more of the minute details of rewards and hits during missions and so on.

[@InsaneFrame]

Awesome, thank you!

[@shashumgadimbo6857]

Imagining the beginning of xcom 2 where Central has to choose between the commander and the one-man-army

[@miroslavzima8856]

What can I say - you are just AMAZING! Against all odds, you were victorious!

[@InsaneFrame]

Thankyou so much buddy :)

[@lubelskisatyr5063]

you are great, xcom2 on your channel got me subscribed. For example i DID get through game on rookie, but only my ranger survived on last mission. How can someone play only with ONE SOLDIER haha. Legend

[@aregmartirosyan2076]

This guy has the nerves of steel ...

[@InsaneFrame]

Its all about the shotguns to the face :)

[@aregmartirosyan2076]

@@InsaneFrame yes and this just inspires me to get better at xcom honestly.

[@hannabelphaege3774]

I played this game techless years ago, it was a fun challenge. No upgrades for your starting armour and weapons, no meld allowed, one psychic and only for the final mission. I did have to use upgraded aircraft and weapons though, there's just no number of ravens that can take out a battleship

[@yellownomadglitch3309]

Even you have a different way that I thought, my idea for a challenge like this would been yes use one soldier but still have others in reserve in case he dies or hurt, I guess not really "one soldier run"

[@INeedTogepi]

This video inspired me to dive back in and do another playthrough of Enemy Within. I just finished an unmodded XCOM 2 playthrough a couple weeks ago, so Enemy Within is the perfect game for me to play while I'm trying to set up Long War of The Chosen on my laptop.

[@INeedTogepi]

Also, I'm 99% certain this is the first normal length video I've ever watched on KZbin that was about XCOM. Please, may I have some more?

[@InsaneFrame]

I might do a second channel dedicated to random games i want to do challenges with, but might keep up im kind of unsure to be honest...

[@Trikill3R935]

Great run! Shoutout to thedriftersbroadcast. He does awesome xcom 2 challenges and streams almost every day

[@zapadap1328]

The Elders on the Mothership are just watching this happen like: 'How is he doing this, he's just one guy!?'

[@IntrusiveThot420]

(Reposting from the Backlogs video) Hiya! This will probably get buried, but I actually did beat Classic waaaaay back in the day with a solo soldier. You need really good luck to do it, but with a Sniper and the right skill pulls on Training Roulette, and a lucky Psionics Lab roll, it's completely possible. You want the following skills in basically whatever order you can get them: Headshot, Snap Shot, Aggression, Bring 'Em On, Opportunist, Sentinel OR Rapid Reaction (doesn't really matter with such high aim), and In the Zone OR Double Tap. I prefer In the Zone for wiping most maps and pods easily, but Double Tap can be crucial vs Sectopods, which will cause you lots of headaches otherwise. You will need to play extremely cautiously in the first few operations and get really lucky with hits and kills. Your goal is to encounter Seekers as quickly as possible. Once you do, immediately book it to the map border and run a circle around the entire map. Eventually, the seekers will run out of cloak turns, decloak, and start shooting you with their plasma pistols. This is your opportunity to kill them with Headshot crits. Once you've got the seekers dead and the mission wrapped up, you've basically won the game. You'll want to autopsy the seeker ASAP, then slap Mimetic Skin onto your sniper and buy them a Respirator Implant as well to trivialize future seeker encounters . Since you've probably got some leftover meld, grabbing things like Adaptive Bone Marrow for healing and the eye mod that gives extra hit from elevation are great as well. Basically, with the right setup, you can run around invisibly, then overwatch pods to get 2 free shots off that can hit and crit for extra damage with increased crit chance. If you're careful with your movement and have a backup plan to re-cloak in nasty fights you can basically win every mission with a little patience.

[@IntrusiveThot420]

To add on to this comment, the final mission is actually pretty easy; there are a lot of areas where you can hide out of line of sight, use the psionic rally thing, and then drop a massive Rift on top of whatever enemy pod you're staring at. The double sectopod room has a tile at the top of the stairs where the sectopods cannot see you, but you can rift them. You need to move back and forth from one side of the room to the other though, because they have an artillery attack that always magically knows where you are even if they can't see you. In the final room, you have to get up as far as you can before entering, then sprint into the low ground high cover to get vision on the master ethereal. Easy game!

[@InsaneFrame]

You know what may i do a video in your honour with a gentlemans agreement and dial it up to impossible and run a solo campaign no operatives just a single guy and run on in as best we can

[@IntrusiveThot420]

@@InsaneFrame i was wondering about Impossible, and I think it may be better to run a lucky blend of Assault abilities instead of a sniper! So one of the problems moving up from Classic to Impossible is HP thresholds; you stop being able to get those juicy guaranteed kills off of crits on mutons and stuff, so the sniper becomes a lot less good because you can't just blow through pods guaranteed with flanking crits. Perhaps it would simply be better to run an assault with like, Light Em Up and Double Tap alongside Close and Personal and then uhhh the one skill you used in this video where you can always take reaction shots. Maybe HEAT ammo too? You had the perfect ideas with this one and it would be insanely hype to see you take it to the bank.

[@Lugghandle]

It takes 2 to tango but it only takes one to drive a revolution.

[@chaosordeal294]

OK, now beat it with even fewer guys!

[@maxamillianmiles9382]

Beat XCOM is a decent enough challenge in itself

[@InsaneFrame]

Xcom isn't too bad if you have a game plan otherwise the consequences for failure is very sever especially on higher difficulties

[@deadermemes6676]

I really love an appreciate you saying "shot him in the face" lol

[@InsaneFrame]

Now that i think about it ,, its something i say alot lol :D

[@REDPyro-os2km]

You should try a challange on the Xcom Long War mod

[@ivanlasic5318]

Gun and run omg i laughed so hard.

[@gavinnys2392]

Finally the backlogs getting the recognition he deserves

[@Charsept]

I just watched Backlogs try this. So cool to see this attempted by other youtubers

[@janbedzki8598]

Yes you can beat XCOM Enemy within with one soldier. All you need to do is name Your soldier „William Carter” and the game will summon the overpowered soldier with realy high stats and a plasma arsenal. This Fun fact also works in XCOM Enemy unknown. So good luck 😊

[@InsaneFrame]

you've got the Xcom heros named after the developers they are seriously overpowered it's almost an auto win in most cases

[@GibertPlays]

This is bananas.

[@InsaneFrame]

it's pretty amazing what the game lets you do!

[@adriftinglink]

I’ve never been an xcom fan, but this video was fun.

[@InsaneFrame]

thankyou really cool of you to say :D

[@dariustiapula]

Man the x-rays mess with Rambo retirement.

[@Dahellraider]

The Xcom version of Doom guy unleashed lol. Also I feel you purposely trying to make us mad saying Gun and Run

[@InsaneFrame]

looking back on it run and gun... silly insane frame! we're all becoming doom guy!

[@PaulLeach123]

The Gollup chamber is a nod to Julian Gollup - the creator of the original xcom

[@InsaneFrame]

That is useful to know thankyou :)

[@jamesandrews3700]

That was a lot of sectiod commanders I don't usually see like 4 max in my runs

[@InsaneFrame]

They do show up alot when the mechtoids start showing up with a +1 sectoid commander

[@fame9870]

XCOM if doom guy was a member

[@InsaneFrame]

Yep you know it, Col. Spitfire secretly doom guy the whole time

[@TheStapleGunKid]

Good lord, when I think of how much effort it took to beat XCOM on Ironman/Classic difficulty for the first time, seeing someone beat it with just one solider is flat out unreal.

[@ahobbitstail7022]

This game honestly looks more fun than XCOM 2.

[@InsaneFrame]

going to be coming back to it as it was a heck of alot of fun :)

[@SirPhantom.]

I am so down for this. I love xcom

[@InsaneFrame]

X-COM is the shizz :D 11/10

[@SirPhantom.]

That's a fact

[@jafsterlordbib]

I just learned that the original ufo game was made by a Julian Gollop hence the gollop chamber homage

[@Chris-ss2ys]

X com is so good please nske this a series

[@InsaneFrame]

We'll see, to be honest this is kind of a pilot of sorts if you will :)

[@Chris-ss2ys]

@@InsaneFrame thank you 😊 🙏

[@tavdotanfuchs5039]

if you kill the middle ethereal (or if easier, the one who wears the different helmet than the others) first, it would finish the end mission immediately, meaning you won't have to deal with the other ethereals

[@davidriley8316]

I'm new. Am I the only one who perfers one over two? Granted I haven't played Xcom 2 that much. Also, a great video. You got a new sub.

[@ethanadams3103]

Ur not the only one, I prefer 1 over 2 as well, it has to do more with the aesthetic

[@InsaneFrame]

Thankyou i will certainly give xcom 2 a go but I'm in agreement the second was a bit... much and a slight pull away form the classic formula

[@pizzacarl6955]

I prefer 2 but thats likely just cause ive played it more and its easier to mod

[@jacksonmagas9698]

@@InsaneFrame The big difference imo is the mood of the setting. Enemy unknown really makes you feel like you are overwhelmed and humanity is on the brink of falling with the dark lighting and map designs where everything is on fire. Long war takes it up a notch too making you feel overwhelmed in the number and strength of enemies as well as theh setting.

[@inkjustink4936]

R.i.p Jorgen Hagen, man the ending Feels more sad when you only have one guy that you use for the rest of the game from zero to hero fr

[@jacobstaten2366]

Kind of surprised you went with a shotgun instead of rifle in the beginning. The EXALT mole and other characters in the beginning are basically just NPCs in an action game in this context.

[@unknownkingdom]

Agreed. Really the assault rifle and laser rifle are better than the shotguns of equal tech level. Only the alloy cannon does significantly more damage than plasma rifle to justify the lack of range in my opinion.

[@jacobstaten2366]

@@unknownkingdom I tried switching to it with scopes (especially the modified scopes) and it's not that significant of a penalty, especially when the map is this small. Real shotguns can be useful out to 200m and can still be deadly long after it's difficult to hit the target. In a game this simple, they should be nearly interchangeable with rifles.

[@ethanadams3103]

Loved the video, I've seen some of your other ones, but never thought to subscribe but am doing so now, would want to see more xcom, but love the fallout videos as well

[@InsaneFrame]

cheers man thats really cool of you! :)

[@mcnav279]

Love the video great job - just felt like the pacing was too fast and there was a rush to finish sentences. I guess can't be helped on such a long video! Regardless keep it up!

[@InsaneFrame]

thanks for the hot tip useful feedback! :)

[@ErikiaAstari]

Now time to double down and suffer doing it in the long war mod :D (if its even possible in the slightest)

[@artg556]

This soldier reminded me of Turok from the 2008 game

[@juanfran7095]

can tell that there was no savescum at all. what a legend.

[@juanfran7095]

xd

[@odsthelltrooper]

Man I played xcom 2 first I should really play the first one

[@InsaneFrame]

the power wscaling is busted you can get 1 class and mutations i guess count as 1/2 a class and then psi powers count as another 1/2 class its truly busted

[@jacksonmagas9698]

You should do a long war run if you haven't before

[@InsaneFrame]

YES!!! long war mod is so good!!!

[@JohnSmith-bs9ym]

I wish they gain xp way faster like in Baldur's Gate where you get ridiculously powerful in the first chapter by playing solo lol...

[@alienrenders]

What would you have done if your guy had no psi abilities?

[@InsaneFrame]

Not entirely sure to be quite honest!

[@andremagalhaes352]

Aliens in this campaing: why do i ear boss music

[@funschool3331]

Always wondered if this was possible

[@Aerodeth]

Before I even see the 1 soldier: Please name him Rambo Please name him Rambo Please name him Rambo Please name him Rambo Please name him Rambo Please name him Rambo Please name him Rambo Please name him Rambo Please name him Rambo Please name him Rambo

[@Aerodeth]

After I see the 1 soldier: Aww. :(

[@harleyleedavidson8751]

If I remember correctly you can also use the glorified taser to hack the little eyebots that spawn with the cyber Frisbee Hope this helps in the future

[@jacobstaten2366]

I never understood why they end your turn if you shoot rather than letting you attack twice or attack and then move unless you're heavy weapons.

[@reversecolin1256788]

if i tryed this id do what you do but id shuffle the 4 you start with

[@BreakdancePeach]

You wanna hear some real BS? When playing solo, you can't get the 'Ain't No Cavalry' achievement ("Have a soldier *survive* every mission in a full game"). You know why? Because technically your solo guy blows up in a cutscene to save Earth on the final mission. That's right, you lose an achievement because *a mandatory story event* stops you from getting it. You can guess how I found out.

[@NewRepublic4137]

Fallout 3 - THE ENEMY WITHIN

[@yuncelluz8709]

That’s one Hot Shotgun

[@unknownkingdom]

How is he not running out of ammunition? Also, how is he able to take out while.pods with the shotgun? I get the damage is better but how can he get close enough to use it without getting flank shot during the enemy turn?

[@InsaneFrame]

Its all about being hyper aggressive and when the enemies are dead reload as for getting shot its tough for the enemies to flank thanks to run and gun honestly its broken

[@h4hyena]

How many tries did this take you?

[@InsaneFrame]

it took a coupl eof attempts but as soon as the sector pods showed up oh boy... many mission restarts but mind control made that so much easier

[@AchanCham_]

Excellent job!

[@allenellisdewitt]

I do not understand countries pulling out. What do Mexico & Canada expect to do?

[@InsaneFrame]

They kind of have the setup for xcom 2 because of them

[@thekommunistkrusader3921]

Haven't really played much xcom 1 but I absolutely loved xcom 2 and its mods, also if I may reccomend a challenge run for fallout 4

[@gafrers]

Masterful Job. 👏👏👏

[@InsaneFrame]

Thankyou :D

[@ctakitimu]

You made it seem easy!

[@InsaneFrame]

it was actually easier than i thought but the beginning with the wouunds and no one to respnd to threats that was punishing!

[@f4d370]

The answer is yes, i know because i did it as well, and its enemy within ON IPAD, ITS PAIN

[@alexanderjager6768]

Basically Crysis TBS

[@BananaVap0r]

Frame you should do a challenge where you beat fallout 4 as nick valentine

[@InsaneFrame]

that actually does sound pretty awsome might need to use a mod to start as a synth :)